12/14 Death Certificates Released

Following a lengthy legal battle, the town has provided copies of death certificates for the 28 people who died during the violent incidents of last December 14 in Sandy Hook.

On June 18, applicants representing news organizations including The Hartford Courant and CNBC received certified copies of the death certificates at the town clerk’s office.

The death certificates include those of the 20 first-graders and six educators who died at Sandy Hook School, as well as the 20-year-old gunman who killed them, plus the gunman’s mother whom he had killed before arriving at the school armed with a semiautomatic military-style rifle.

The applicants received the 28 certificates, which cost $20 apiece, after formally requesting them.

After the 12/14 incident, about a dozen organizations had informally asked for the certificates, but the town clerk had denied those requests based on privacy concerns.

Town officials supported proposed legislation during the last session of the state’s General Assembly which would have strictly limited public access to death certificates in cases such as the 12/14 incident, but that legislation failed to gain approval.

The town attorney later acknowledged that the town would need to honor formal requests for the death certificates under the terms of existing state law.